151 Quick Ideas to Deal With Difficult People

130Play to Their Strengths

In his book The Four Agreements: A practical guide to personal freedom, Don Miguel Ruiz says that one of the four keys to a happy life is to be “impeccable with your word.” In other words, always deliver on your promises. People who don’t keep their word can be a source of utter frustration in the workplace.

Chris has a hard time enduring committee meetings because people don’t keep their word. The head of a committee he was asked to serve on distributed a packet of material she wanted the group to review before the first meeting. On the day of the meeting, one colleague came in extremely late and some of the others hadn’t bothered to read the materials. Chris wanted to shout, “Why don’t you stop wasting my time!”